


To Care Is to Hurt

by remi_wolf



Category: Original Work
Genre: Exhaustion, F/M, Late Night Conversations, Late at Night, M/M, Multi, Mythology - Freeform, Sleep Deprivation, Urban Fantasy, Whumptober, Whumptober 2020, shouting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-23
Updated: 2020-10-23
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:53:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27173392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/remi_wolf/pseuds/remi_wolf
Summary: Connor needs to sleep. He knows it, Mels knows it, and Victor knows it. However, Mels knows that Connor will sleep when he sleeps, and until then, Connor will be a stubborn shit that's a bit argumentative until then. Victor, however, doesn't want to simply wait until Connor passes out, and so tracks him down late one night to try and convince him to come to bed, at least for a little while.Whumptober Day 23: What's a Whumpee Gotta Do To Get Some Sleep Around Here? Prompt: Exhaustion, Sleep Deprivation.
Relationships: Original Female Character/Original Male Character, Original Female Character/Original Male Character/Original Male Character, Original Male Character/Original Male Character
Kudos: 3
Collections: Beguilements and Distractions, Remi's Whumptober Collection for 2020, Whumptober 2020





	To Care Is to Hurt

**Author's Note:**

> Pair of characters from a larger original work that I started about seven years ago. They still hold a very fond place in my heart, and thought it might be nice to write them again. No information should be needed in order to read this! Hopefully you enjoy it!

Footsteps quietly padded down the stairs, making them creak under someone’s weight. Connor hummed softly as he sipped the spiced tea in front of him, guessing that it might be Melitsa. She had just disappeared upstairs, so perhaps she had forgotten something downstairs. 

“Coming to bed tonight?”

The voice that greeted him was most decidedly not Mels at all. Connor glanced up at Victor, pulling his attention away from the mug of tea, and he shifted slightly on the barstool so that he could look at him better. “No. No, I’m...not going to bed tonight.”

Victor sighed softly, shifting the fuzzy blanket around his shoulders before walking towards Connor, leaning against the wood of the table before nudging his shoulder against Connor’s side. “When’s the last time you slept, sweet?”

Connor shrugged, scratching the back of his head before finally nudging Victor in return. “Dunno. Day. Maybe two.” He glanced away, not quite wanting to look at Victor, whether he would be disappointed or not with that.

There was a small pause as Victor looked at the table and the tea before he shifted, standing up somewhat, though he still leaned against the table, angled towards Connor. The slightest of furrows came between his eyebrows as he looked at the mug. 

“That’s ginger. And..." Victor sniffed before frowning as he looked at Connor, the motion sharp and fast, the furrow growing more pronounced. “Mugwort? Witch Hazel? I can’t quite tell.”

Connor raised an eyebrow as he looked at Victor in return before downing the rest of the cup, as well as the leaves and ground spices at the bottom. Victor wouldn’t be able to complain too much if it was already gone, even if he’d still be disappointed. “It’s fine. Doesn’t matter.”

“Mels made that for you, didn’t she?”

The only true reply that Connor could manage in response was to roll his eyes as he pressed his hands against the still-warm walls of the mug.

Victor sighed softly as he looked at Conner, chewing on his lip as he looked between the mug and Connor before standing up, away from the table, wrapping the blanket tighter around himself. He was properly burritoed in it now, and a small, well, large and swiftly-growing, part of Connor wanted to curl up with Victor in it. It would be warm, and comfortable, and maybe he’d feel safe wrapped up close to him. 

“I bet she doesn’t know that you aren’t sleeping,” Victor muttered, looking away from Connor. “I’ll have to tell her you’re avoiding sleep. 

Connor rolled his eyes again before turning to look at him better, arms crossed tight against his chest. “Seriously?”

“I’m worried about you.”

Connor stood up, looking at Victor for a few moments before forcing his thoughts to come up with some sort of response, and one that wouldn’t hurt Victor’s feelings at all. “Go to bed. Get some sleep, alright? That’s probably for the best, alright?”

“I’m worried!”

“I know!” 

The shouting clearly took both of them by surprise. Connor jerked back, shocked that he had slipped like that, and Victor looked as Connor slapped him. He didn’t yell at Victor. Connor tried so hard to keep himself from yelling at either Mels or Victor, considering he didn’t want to become his father at all. He loved them, and...you didn’t yell at people you loved. 

But he did.

Connor took a shaky breath as he closed his eyes. His hands shook at his sides, just a slight tremble he had been fighting off for almost a day now, and while the tea had helped, his head still spun a bit, threatening to overturn the world underneath his feet. Hopefully it would settle before too long, and hopefully he’d be able to stay awake. After a moment, he opened his eyes, eyes focusing and settling on Victor again.

Victor, who looked as though he was moments away from crying, the blanket held tight in pale hands as he hid behind the fabric. Connor took a deep breath before reaching up to close the distance between them. A hug, or something. Anything to try and apologize. 

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry, I didn’t—”

“Please stop.”

Connor stopped the moment Victor spoke up, even if he could only barely hear the request, even despite how close they were. Without something to do with his hands now, they dropped to his sides, and he looked down as he tugged his sleeves down over the scars on his arms and over his hands. Hopefully having something to hold onto would help keep his hands from trembling. 

Victor took a deep breath, betraying how close he was to tears with the way it shook. Connor honestly couldn’t remember the last time he heard Victor like this. And it was his fault. His fault entirely. 

“I’m going to sleep,” Victor finally said, voice still soft, though it was easier to hear. Connor could especially hear the forced calm Victor always assumed when he felt he was getting too emotional. “You can stay awake and kill yourself doing this. I can’t do this. Don’t forget you need sleep. And don’t forget that Mels asked you to help with a shift or two soon. That deal you made a few days ago.”

“I know.” 

That was why he was avoiding sleep. Mels would ask him to do a shift or two, and then he’d be roped into more and more shifts, and then soon enough it was as though he’d be in Mors’ employ all over again, despite everything he had done to get out from underneath it. He had done too much, and sacrificed too much, in order to be able to be free of Mors. He wasn’t about to throw that away as a favor to Mels, no matter how much he loved her.

Connor’s shoulders slumped as he looked up in time to see Victor disappearing upstairs, the blanket trailing behind him. Gods, but he looked adorable, and he knew that Victor wanted to help him, but he didn’t want Victor to try and deal with this mess. 

Connor sat down, head swimming as he tried to ignore the way his eyelids wanted to droop shut, even though he had just drank six cups of the most potent tea that always kept him awake. As much as Victor worried over him, he obviously hadn’t realized just how long it had been since Connor last slept. Four days, not the day or two that Connor told Victor. While he knew it wasn’t exactly the best to lie to him, it would only make Victor worry more, and for all that Victor was able to help him, Victor didn’t understand a few things. 

Sleeping meant work, for Connor. 

Work meant obligations and promises and either dodging them or accepting them, and then accepting that it would only make for more work and more obligations, and Connor was  _ tired _ . Tired, in that bone-deep, exhausted way, and he didn’t know what to do other than to ignore sleep and try to stay awake long enough that he collapsed and simply wasn’t able to dream at all. That would be best, but...

That simply wasn’t Connor’s lot in life, apparently. 

He took a deep breath, forcing his eyes open as he looked back up at the ceiling . That was a poor decision, seeing as everything began to spin as he looked out the skylight, and so he closed his eyes again. Perhaps just closing them would help to keep everything from spinning and turning under him. They were burning regardless, or maybe they had stopped two days ago, but he wasn’t sure. Regardless, closing his eyes seemed to help, and maybe he’d just lay here for a little while. 

Laying here would be safe. 

Perfectly safe. 

He’d get up in...a few minutes. 

Yeah, a few minutes.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Comments are always welcome!


End file.
